The invention relates to a method for producing a motor vehicle steering wheel, having a ring with at least one segment provided with a cover.
Steering wheels in passenger vehicles and utility vehicles are frequently manufactured not from one type of material alone, but also have so-called covers made of different materials. The unfinished steering wheel part, consisting of a ring with inserted impact-absorbing element, is for the most part made of plastic. The covers can consist, for example, of wood, stone, leather or fabric. As a result, steering wheels can be configured in many different ways and can thus increase the value of the motor vehicle inside space.
The methods known so far require several successive operational steps to attach the covers to the unfinished steering wheel parts. This operation takes place either before or after the impact-absorbing element is inserted into the ring. A disadvantage in this case is that the ring and the impact-absorbing element must be protected during the processing of the cover as they might otherwise be damaged. Consequently, the manufacture of such steering wheels becomes very involved and expensive. If the cover is actually damaged during the application, the complete arrangement of ring with impact-absorbing element and cover frequently cannot be used any more.
It is the object of the present invention to demonstrate a method, which allows a simple and cost-effective production of a steering wheel of the aforementioned type.